AnimeCon.org’s Anime Midwest Cracks 14,000 Attendees

July 1117:512017

The relatively new anime convention group cracks a major attendance milestone.

Rosemont, Illinois – July 11, 2017 – Anime Midwest in Chicago soared to new heights this past weekend, as the convention cracked attendance of over 14,000 unique attendees at its cosplay-friendly convention. Many Japanese guests were in attendance this year, including anime studios MAPPA and TRIGGER, performers Deadlift Lolita, in addition to lolita kawaii ambassador, Misako. 14,374 people attended, which includes 13,421 unique paid attendees. This attendance is the unique attendance; total “gate” or “turnstile” attendance, as reported by comic conventions by counting each day as a separate ticket, is over 33,000 people.

“We have been travelling to Japan annually since 2012, laying down the roots of our expansion,” said the CEO of AnimeCon.org, Ryan Kopf. “Each year we’ve learned some valuable tips and tricks that we absorb and mold into our organization and our conventions, allowing us to bring deeply interesting culture, guests, and events to our convention. We’ve been making regular contacts with companies, agents, and talent, and it has paid off in a big way.”

Highlights from the 2017 included the participation of major anime studios, including MAPPA and TRIGGER. The event also enjoyed participation of the lolita and fashion communities with attendance from Misako, in addition to several indie fashion designers.

“Diversity was a big part of this year’s success,” Kopf continued, citing the participation of MAPPA and comedian Yakov Smirnoff as major factors in this year’s attendance. “We focused on making our content, specifically our main stage content, the most interesting thing at our convention.”

“It’s not been just us. We got advice from some of the best people in the industry,” continued Kopf, citing attendance in Project Anime Japan as a key factor. “We thank the organizers of Project Anime a lot.”

“This is also not the first time we’ve nearly doubled in attendance,” Kopf said. Anime Midwest doubled in size between 2012 and 2013, when the convention first moved to the ubiquitious Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. That year the convention grew from about 1,000-1,500 to over 5,000 attendees. Many would attribute the success to using a venue that is well known to convention attendees and easily accessible via Chicago transit on the Blue Line. However that year the convention also brought in more guests than it ever had, with Steam Powered Giraffe headlining their first concert in Chicago at that event. The convention website is at http://animemidwest.com

This year the convention also doubled down on local advertising, putting up posters in over 100 different locations in Chicago, months before the event. The posters highlighted the convention’s diversity, with the headline “WHAT IS ANIME MIDWEST”.

Typically as an anime convention grows, it experiences several headaches and slowdowns, with registration lines running long and events starting late. Anime Midwest has of course experienced these issues in the past – but thanks to new technology and a talented team of staff, this year’s event went stunningly smoothly. AnimeCon.org developed custom technology for its conventions that allows for automated at-con check-in with a photo ID, that takes less than 8 seconds per person. This revolutionary technology has skyrocketed Anime Midwest ahead of other events in terms of registration, and the convention even gives away the technology to other cons for free via http://cons.mx